For many years the perception from outside of St. Louis was of a nice, conservative Midwest town, possibly waiting for a rebirth of the industrial revolution. But over the past two-plus years the region’s business and entrepreneurial ecosystem has begun to drastically evolve and flourish.

The Supreme Court's decision in favor of protecting Monsanto’s intellectual property was crucial for the protection of innovations in ag biotech as well as in other fields such as medicine, computer science, and environmental science.